Earth Walker
June 6th, 2001, 02:31 PM
The coral is being choked with mud and pesticides
from farmland. Some 28 million tonnes of sediment
flows into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef each
year, the equivalent of 3.5 million dump trucks.
The Great Barrier Reef's inshore coral and seagrass meadows
are choking under a blanket of mud laced with toxic pesticides
being washed off farmlands and many reefs are unlikely to
survive the next 5 to 10 years.
A World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report on Australia's
Great Barrier Reef released on Tuesday says increasing land-
based pollution, coupled with bleaching due to global warming,
was seriously threatening the world's largest coral reef
formation.
"That spells catastrophe for the reef," said the report, released
on World Environment Day. "There is now serious cause for
concern about the survival of the inshore reefs from Hinchinbrook
Island to Port Douglas."
"Many inshore reefs are now either highly degraded or dead.
They have collapsed from the effects of sediment and nutrients
pouring out of our rivers," WWF said.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living reef formation
stretching 2,000 km north to south along Australia's northeast
coast.
WWF said 28 million tonnes of sediment flowed into the waters
of the Great Barrier Reef each year, the equivalent of 3.5 million
dump trucks emptying soil onto the reef.
"Land clearing and overgrazing is responsible for the vast
majority of this sediment pollution," said the report, adding 76.9%
of the reef's catchment was now grazing land compared with
10.8% pristine environment.
Farms with some 4.9 million cattle were depositing 18 million
tonnes of sediment a year.
Sugar cane farms that dot the coast resulted in another 1.3
million tonnes.
"The water is often thick and brown, like a muddy milkshake,
along many parts of the coastline. Murky waters is not good
for reefs and seagrass which need sunlight to survive."
WWF said thousands of tonnes of nitrogen and phosphorus
from fertilizers, used on cane, banana and cotton farms, were
being washed into the sea and poisoning marine life.
In 1994 an estimated 8,000 tonnes of nitrogen and 1,300
tonnes of phosphorus was washed into the sea around the reef.
Pesticides diuron, atrazine, and ametryn, used to fight weeds,
rats and diseases, were also found in coastal sugar cane areas.
But at the same time, up to 80% of freshwater wetlands, which
act as filters protecting the reef from pollution run-off, have been
lost due to cane growing and coastal development.
Excessive nutrient from run-off has led to massive growth of
unwanted organism, like blue-green algae, and nitrate fertilizer
are causing reproduction problems for coral larvae.
"The view amongst the experts is that high concentrations of
nitrate runoff from cane and other intensive cropping is the
greatest chronic pollutant source to the reef," said WWF.
Toxic dioxin was also found in sediment and estuaries from
Cardwell south to Brisbane and in some endangered dugongs.
But it was unclear the source of the dioxin.
"The levels detected were higher than levels found in high
polluted waterways adjacent to urban areas in Europe and the
United States," said WWF.
WWF called for a stop to land clearing of the Great Barrier
Reef catchment and for farming practices to change.
:If we spend the next 5 to 10 years monitoring the decline and
discussing the problem then it may be too late to rescue them,"
WWF warned.
--Reuters
To my Australian kin: Could you keep me up-to-date on
everything about Pauline Hanson/One Nation (neo-Nazis), via
E-mail? Thanx.
To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.
from farmland. Some 28 million tonnes of sediment
flows into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef each
year, the equivalent of 3.5 million dump trucks.
The Great Barrier Reef's inshore coral and seagrass meadows
are choking under a blanket of mud laced with toxic pesticides
being washed off farmlands and many reefs are unlikely to
survive the next 5 to 10 years.
A World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report on Australia's
Great Barrier Reef released on Tuesday says increasing land-
based pollution, coupled with bleaching due to global warming,
was seriously threatening the world's largest coral reef
formation.
"That spells catastrophe for the reef," said the report, released
on World Environment Day. "There is now serious cause for
concern about the survival of the inshore reefs from Hinchinbrook
Island to Port Douglas."
"Many inshore reefs are now either highly degraded or dead.
They have collapsed from the effects of sediment and nutrients
pouring out of our rivers," WWF said.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living reef formation
stretching 2,000 km north to south along Australia's northeast
coast.
WWF said 28 million tonnes of sediment flowed into the waters
of the Great Barrier Reef each year, the equivalent of 3.5 million
dump trucks emptying soil onto the reef.
"Land clearing and overgrazing is responsible for the vast
majority of this sediment pollution," said the report, adding 76.9%
of the reef's catchment was now grazing land compared with
10.8% pristine environment.
Farms with some 4.9 million cattle were depositing 18 million
tonnes of sediment a year.
Sugar cane farms that dot the coast resulted in another 1.3
million tonnes.
"The water is often thick and brown, like a muddy milkshake,
along many parts of the coastline. Murky waters is not good
for reefs and seagrass which need sunlight to survive."
WWF said thousands of tonnes of nitrogen and phosphorus
from fertilizers, used on cane, banana and cotton farms, were
being washed into the sea and poisoning marine life.
In 1994 an estimated 8,000 tonnes of nitrogen and 1,300
tonnes of phosphorus was washed into the sea around the reef.
Pesticides diuron, atrazine, and ametryn, used to fight weeds,
rats and diseases, were also found in coastal sugar cane areas.
But at the same time, up to 80% of freshwater wetlands, which
act as filters protecting the reef from pollution run-off, have been
lost due to cane growing and coastal development.
Excessive nutrient from run-off has led to massive growth of
unwanted organism, like blue-green algae, and nitrate fertilizer
are causing reproduction problems for coral larvae.
"The view amongst the experts is that high concentrations of
nitrate runoff from cane and other intensive cropping is the
greatest chronic pollutant source to the reef," said WWF.
Toxic dioxin was also found in sediment and estuaries from
Cardwell south to Brisbane and in some endangered dugongs.
But it was unclear the source of the dioxin.
"The levels detected were higher than levels found in high
polluted waterways adjacent to urban areas in Europe and the
United States," said WWF.
WWF called for a stop to land clearing of the Great Barrier
Reef catchment and for farming practices to change.
:If we spend the next 5 to 10 years monitoring the decline and
discussing the problem then it may be too late to rescue them,"
WWF warned.
--Reuters
To my Australian kin: Could you keep me up-to-date on
everything about Pauline Hanson/One Nation (neo-Nazis), via
E-mail? Thanx.
To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.